Everything about Ramesses I totally explained
Menpehtyre
Ramesses I (traditional English:
Ramesses or
Ramses ) was the founding
Pharaoh of
Ancient Egypt's
19th dynasty. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the time-line of late
1292-1290 BC is frequently cited as well as
1295-1294 BC. While Ramesses I was the founder of the 19th Dynasty, in reality his brief reign marked the transition between the reign of
Horemheb who had stabilised Egypt and the rule of the powerful Pharaohs of this dynasty, in particular
Seti I and
Ramesses II, who would bring Egypt up to new heights of imperial power.
Origins
Originally called
Pa-ra-mes-su, Ramesses I was of non-royal birth, being born into a noble military family from the
Nile delta region, perhaps near the former
Hyksos capital of
Avaris, or from
Tanis. He was a career
soldier, originally the chief of the
archers (a position he inherited from his father, Seti, a lower rank army officer), and ultimately General of the Lord of the Two Lands. He had five sisters and three brothers who were named Pay, Minamon and Hawnefer. His uncle Khaemwaset, an army officer married Tamwadjesy, the matron of the Harem of
Amun, who was a relative of Huy, the Viceroy of
Kush, an important state post. This shows the high status of Ramesses' family. Ramesses I found favor with
Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the tumultuous
Eighteenth dynasty, who appointed the former as his
Vizier. Ramesses also served as the
High Priest of
Amun – as such, he'd have played an important role in the restoration of the old religion following the
Amarna heresy of a generation earlier, under
Akhenaten.
Horemheb himself had been a nobleman from outside the immediate royal family, who rose through the ranks of the Egyptian army to serve as the royal advisor to Tutankhamun and Ay and, ultimately, Pharaoh. Since Horemheb was childless, he ultimately chose Ramesses to be his heir in the final years of his reign presumably because Ramesses I was both an able administrator and had a son (Seti I) and a grandson (the future
Ramesses II) to succeed him and thus avoid any succession difficulties.
Upon his accession, Ramesses assumed a
prenomen, or royal name, which is written in
Egyptian hieroglyphs to the right. When transliterated, the name is mn-pḥty-r‘, which is usually interpreted as
Menpehtyre, meaning "Established by the strength of
Ra". However, he's better known by his
nomen, or personal name. This is transliterated as r‘-ms-sw, and is usually realised as
Ramessu or
Ramesses, meaning 'Ra bore him'. Already an old man when he was crowned, Ramesses appointed his son, the later pharaoh
Seti I, to serve as the Crown Prince and chosen successor. Seti was charged with undertaking several military operations during this time– in particular, an attempt to recoup some of Egypt's lost possessions in
Syria. Ramesses appears to have taken charge of domestic matters: most memorably, he completed the second
pylon at
Karnak Temple, begun under Horemheb.
Death
Ramesses enjoyed a very brief reign, as evidenced by the general paucity of contemporary monuments mentioning him: the king had little time to build any major buildings in his reign and was hurriedly buried in a small and hastily finished tomb. The Egyptian priest
Manetho assigns him a reign of 16 months but Ramesses certainly ruled Egypt for a minimum of 17 months based on his highest known date which is a
Year 2 II Peret day 20 (Louvre C57) stela which ordered the provision of new endowments of food and priests for the Temple of
Ptah within the Egyptian fortress of Buhen. Jürgen von Beckerath observes that Ramesses I died just 5 months later--in June 1290 BC--since his son Seti I succeeded to power on
III Shemu day 24. Ramesses I's only known action was to order the provision of endowments for the aforementioned Nubian temple at Buhen and "the construction of a chapel and a temple (which was to be finished by his son) at Abydos." The aged Ramesses I was buried in the
Valley of the Kings. His tomb, discovered by
Giovanni Belzoni in
1817 and designated
KV16, is small in size and gives the impression of having been completed with haste.
Joyce Tyldesley states that Ramesses I's tomb consisted of a single corridor and one unfinished room whose
Rediscovery
According to current theory, his mummy was stolen by the Abu-Rassul family of grave robbers and brought to North America around 1860 by Dr.
James Douglas. It was then placed in the
Niagara Museum and Daredevil Hall of Fame in
Ontario,
Canada. Ramesses I remained there, his identity unknown, next to other curiosities and so-called freaks of nature for more than 130 years. When the owner of the museum decided to sell his property, Canadian businessman William Jamieson purchased the contents of the museum. In 1999, Jamieson sold the Egyptian artifacts in the collection, including the various mummies, to the
Michael C. Carlos Museum at
Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia for US $2 million. His identity can't be conclusively determined, but is persuasively deduced from CT scans, X-rays, skull measurements and radio-carbon dating tests by researchers at the University, as well as aesthetic interpretations of family resemblance. His mummy was returned to Egypt on
October 24,
2003 with full official honors. His mummy is on display at the Luxor Museum.
Further Information
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